Newbie Homebrew Questions

General Homebrew Discussion
1

My first batch I made in February was the Brewer’s Best IPA. I left it in the primary for 7 days. It was fermenting at a temperature of 60-65 degrees. When I took the specific gravity at the time of bottling it was the same as when I transferred to the secondary fermenter. Does this mean that I could of bottled on day 7 versus transferring to the secondary fermenter for another 2 weeks? There was no krausen foam on day 7. Does this mean I didn’t need to leave in the primary for 7 days? The SG on day 7 was already in the range of the final gravity.

Now on to my second batch… I just brewed the Brewer’s Best Rye Pale Ale. With it being the summer now, the brew temperature was 73 degrees this time in my basement. The fermentation began much quicker this time, probably due to the temperature increase (? also possibly due to stirring in the dry yeast versus just sprinkling it on top). After 3.5 days there was already no Krausen foam on top. I took the SG and it was already in the range of the final gravity on the Brewer’s Best instructions. I made the decision to transfer it to the glass carboy. The recipe called for dry hops. I added the dry hops to the carboy with the intention of leaving the beer in the carboy for 2 weeks. However, the next time I looked at the beer there was a new .75 - 1 inch Krausen foam (I think that’s what it was). It lasted about 3 days before settling. Is this a normal reaction after adding the dry hops or mean that it could of stayed in the primary fermenter longer? Do most people add the dry hops right away to the secondary fermenter or wait a week or so (if leaving in the secondary for ~2 weeks).

Thanks for your help and suggestions to a newbie brewer :slight_smile:

2

7 days is usually enough to complete primary fermentation for an ale at those temps.  For most beers you really want to try to keep the temperature down in the mid-60’s or so.  Even if the fermentation is done it’s a good idea to let the beer sit on the yeast for another week or so to allow the yeast to finish cleaning up fermentation by-products and then flocculate out (clump together and fall out of solution) so the beer clears.

Also, there’s no need for an automatic transfer to a secondary fermenter.  In most cases you can just let it sit in the primary until it’s ready to bottle.  If you’re dry hopping you may want to transfer to a secondary but that’s one of only a few situations in which you’d want to use a secondary.

As for the foam on the second beer after you transferred it’s possible that it wasn’t done yet, but it also could just have been CO2 coming out of solution from disturbing the wort during the transfer.  Did the SG drop after the transfer to the secondary?